Across the ruins of the as soon as grand Dunstanburgh Fort in Northumberland, England, the ghost tales are coated by a thick veil of sea mist. From legends of a gallant knight to the Queen from the Struggle of Roses, the deserted fortress shouldn’t be fairly empty.
Excessive upon the storm-battered cliffs of Northumberland, alongside the awful, windswept fringe of the North Sea, the desolate ruins of Dunstanburgh Fort loom in opposition to the ocean misty horizon. It used to as soon as be the biggest fortress in Northumberland and a garrison in opposition to Scotland, however solely fragments stay of its grand previous.Â
As we speak, the 14th century fortress’s skeletal stays supply a hauntingly lovely backdrop for coastal walks — however for individuals who linger too lengthy after nightfall, this crumbling fortress whispers tales of bloodshed, betrayal, and stressed spirits.
The Grim Legacy of Thomas Plantagenet
Dunstanburgh Fort was born of ambition and rebel. In-built 1313 by Thomas Plantagenet, the Second Earl of Lancaster, it was supposed as each an emblem of defiance and a private refuge in opposition to his more and more hostile cousin, King Edward II.
However Plantagenet’s rebel would in the end show deadly. Captured and tried for treason, his destiny was sealed on a chilly March day in 1322. Due to their kinship and Lancaster’s royal blood, the king commuted the sentence to beheading, versus being hanged, drawn and beheaded,[5] and Lancaster was executed on 22 March close to Pontefract Fort.
Learn Extra: Take a look at the story of The Haunting of the Scarborough Fort Ruins and the Foggy South Bay Seashore have been the ghost of Piers Gavenston is claimed to hang-out, certainly one of his enemies at courtroom and who Plantagenet was one of many judges to have Gavenston executed.Â
But even dying provided no dignity. Legend holds that it took a clumsy executioner a ugly eleven strokes to sever Thomas’s head and that eleven strokes have been wanted for his decapitation. Locals say the Earl’s anguished spirit has by no means left Dunstanburgh.
Guests have reported seeing a headless determine wandering the Dunstanburgh Fort grounds, his severed, mangled head cradled beneath one arm. Witnesses declare his face nonetheless bears the contorted agony of these remaining, harrowing moments earlier than dying.
The Wars of the Roses and the Queen’s Ghost on the Seashore
Dunstanburgh didn’t die with Thomas Plantagenet. Within the bloody turmoil of the Wars of the Roses, Dunstanburgh Fort modified palms from the preventing Lancastrian and Yorkists factions no fewer than 5 instances, every siege leaving it additional battered from cannon fireplace. Amidst the wreckage of these violent a long time, one other spirit lingers.
Proper beneath the fortress there may be Queen Margaret’s Cove. It’s stated that Margaret of Anjou escaped to France right here, lowered over the facet of the cliff in a basket to a ship ready beneath in 1460.Â
Margaret of Anjou, spouse of King Henry VI, is claimed to roam the crumbling battlements and desolate seashores beneath. Determined to defend her son’s declare to the throne, Margaret’s remaining days within the north have been marked by betrayal and defeat. Her specter, clad in royal robes now pale by centuries, is usually glimpsed at twilight, gazing mournfully out to sea.
Though the keepers of Dunstanburgh Fort tended to favour the Lancastrians and Queen Margaret, it has led to the fortress being related along with her, most of them traditionally inconceivable and we don’t actually know if she ever went there. She can be stated to be haunting Owlpen Manor in Dursley, Gloucestershire.
Locals declare that in stormy nights, her sorrowful determine walks the shoreline, her ghostly kind typically accompanied by the distant echo of battle cries and the ghostly glow of lanterns flickering throughout the empty towers.
The Ghost of Sir Man the Seeker
One of many extra obscure ghost tales stated to hang-out Dunstanburgh Fort comes the gallant knight, Sir Man the Seeker from the sixteenth century. He was using alongside the coast and was caught in a horrible storm. He discovered the ruins of Dunstanburgh Fort and went there for shelter beneath the shattered turrets of the gatehouse. He stayed the night time, and the storm raged and the wind howled.Â
Immediately, a horrible determine appeared in white, urging him to comply with as he can be rewarded with magnificence shiny.The night time fearing nothing, adopted the determine up a staircase to a room of hundred sleeping knights and their horses slept. There was additionally a ravishing lady sleeping in a crystal casket within the heart of the chamber. Photos and carvings of serpents have been guarding both sides of the casket. On one facet was a sword, on the opposite a horn. The determine stated the knight might save her through the use of both the sword or the horn, however might solely select as soon as. He took the horn and blew it. The sleeping knight obtained up and attacked him. The determine in white stored taunting him as Sir Man fainted.Â
When he wakened, he was again on the gatehouse. He grew to become obsessive about the sleeping maiden he tried to search out once more. He searched each stone within the ruins, however discovered nothing. He died a lonely and damaged man. However on stormy days it’s stated you may nonetheless hear his ghost with the thundering waves in opposition to the partitions, wandering the ruins looking for the sweetness shiny.Â
Native Haunted Legends
The place did the story come from? Though there are slight variations of the legend, it has been informed at the very least as early because the nineteenth century. Related tales, probably impressed by Arthurian legends, have existed as properly near Hexham and Eildon Hills.Â
Learn Extra: Take a look at all ghost tales from haunted castles
There have additionally been stated that there are tunnels underneath Dunstanburgh Fort, stretching and winding from Craston Tower, over to Embleton and close by Proctor Steads.Â
Even in daylight, Dunstanburgh Fort carries an eerie quiet. The ruined gatehouse, shattered partitions, and remoted cliffs exude a way of melancholy, as if the land itself remembers each act of bloodshed dedicated upon it.
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